Combined guide and table structure



Dec. 13, 1955 J WAECHTER 2,726,864

1 COMBINED GUIDE AND TABLE STRUCTURE Original Filed Aug. 12, 1947 INVENTOR.

United States Patent 1 2,726,864 COMBINED GUIDE AND TABLE STRUCTUREHarry 3. Waechter, Mount Healthy, Ohio, assignor to Paul Benninghofenand F. B. Dieshach, Hamilton, Ohio, trustees Origlnal application August12, 1947, Serial No. 768,106, now Patent No. 2,657,051, dated October27, 1953. Divided and this application December 22, 1952, Serial No.3311,9534

1 Claim. (Cl. 2271-59) This invention relates to guiding apparatus andis particularly directed to a combined table and guide construction foruse in guiding strips of paper as they are fed across the top of thetable. This application is a division of my United States Patentapplication Serial No. 768,l06 which was filed August 12, 1947, forCombined Guide and Table Structure, and which is now issued as UnitedStates Patent No. 2,657,051. The guide means of this in vention hasready application to use in autographic registers wherein the guidesmaintain strips of paper for uniform guiding movement along the writingplaten as they are fed through the register. In the past, structures ofthis general character have involved parts which were rather complex andextended, were in the way and, were diliicult to adjust or to remove.Adjustment has usually required the loosening of screws and thealignment of parts.

It has been the object of the present inventor to provide an adjustableguide element which can be quickly applied to an edge of the writingplaten or the table and which can be readily moved in and out to anydesired adjusted position through the simple procedure of gripping theguide element in such manner as to detach its securing means and toquickly move it to the desired position.

It has been a further object of the present inventor to provide a guideof this nature which can be applied to the table structure without agreat deal of structural modification of the table. It is only necessaryto provide grooves in the table surface in order to provide thenecessary component attachment or locking means in the table.

It has been a still further object to provide adjustment guides whichare of clip form and which can be readily manufactured from a singlepiece of metal by blanking out the metal and bending it to constitutethe component members.

It has been a still further object of the present inventor to provideguides in which there is an inherent spring tension for holding them inthe desired adjusted positions.

It has been a still further object to provide guides of this characterwhich can be completely removed from the register in a matter of secondsso that if the user does not desire to have the guides on the machinethey can be completely removed without destroying the appearance of theregister or the structure.

Other objects and certain advantages will be more fully apparent from adescription of the drawings in which:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view showing the guide clips ofthe present invention applied along a common side or edge of the tableor writing platen.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22, Figure 1, detailing oneof the guides of Figure 1 in position of use.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of a guide.

Figure 4 is a side view of the guide of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view looking at the back of the guide of Figure 3.

The guide of this invention, as stated, may be employed for a number ofuses. It is shown herein applied to the edge of a table structure suchas the writing platen of an autographic register for the purpose ofguiding paper along the platen. The guide and table structure aredesigned so as to permit adjustment of the guides to accommodate variouswidths of paper.

The table in this instance incorporates a series of 2,726,864 PatentedDec. 13, 1955 grooves 25 on the upper surface thereof. These grooves aredisposed in series adjacent the desired general position of the guideand are extended at right angles to the edge 26 of the table 27. They donot extend entirely to the edge 26, stopping short adjacent thereto. Theguides include upper horizontally disposed guide flanges 2S spacedupwardly from the table a sufiicient distance depending upon theaggregate thickness of the sheets of paper being guided. They alsoinclude outer guide walls 29 for guiding the strips of paper againstlateral displacement, these walls being vertically disposed. The upperguide flange 28 and the wall 5.9 are formed from and attached to theside edge 33 of the body ponion 31 of the guide. The body portionconsists of a flat plate member resting directly upon the table. Eachguide is made up of a single piece 0* metal appropriately cut and bentto provide the guiding attaching portions.

The spring holding means for this form of guide is constituted bybending the metal of the body portion 31 at right angles to formvertical portions 32 and spring arms 33 extending under the table insubstantial parallelism with the body portion Thus, the body portionsembrace the edge margin of the table as shown in Figure 4. The sprinarms contact the underside of the table under considerable pressure,that is to say there is an inherent spring tension which holds the bodyportion and the guide flanges firmly in position on the top of thetable.

These guides are held against movement along the edge of the table bymeans of detent lips or hook edges 3-5 formed by punching out thecentral portion of the body members 31 and forming the displaced metaldownwardly into a vertical plane for cooperation with any one of thegrooves 25 (Figure 2). T ese detent or hook edges or lips are slightlyless i length than the length of the grooves 25 and they willaccordingly fit in any one of these grooves. Since the grooves stopshort of the edge of the table, it is evident that lateral d Jlaceinentof the guides relative to the edge of the ta is prevented.

When it is dQCiLv-J. to change the position or" the guides, their upperportions are raised by gripping the horizontal flanges, thus displacingthe detent or hook edges 34 from the grooves whereupon the guides may bemoved along the edge to the selected groove. The same procedure isfollowed in completely removing the guides from the table. Thus, theguides may be brought together or moved apart to accommodate paper ofdifferent widths.

Having described my invention, i claim:

The combination of a table for an autographic register or the like andan adjustable guide unit engageable with an edge of said table forguiding strips of paper across said table in a direction at to saidedge, said guide unit formed from a single piece of resilient sheetmetal and comprising a U-shaped sprim clip adapted to embrace said edgewith the respective upper and lower limbs of the U-shaped clip engagingthe respective upper and lower faces of said table, a vertical wallextending upwardly from one side edge of the upper limb of said clip, aflange extending horizcntaliy from said wall to overhang said upper limbof said clip, the upper limb of said U-shaped spring clip having alongitudinally disposed lip depending from the underside thereof, aseries of grooves in the upper surface of said table, said grooves beingdisposed at 90 to said edge in spaced parallel relation with respect toone another with the ends of the grooves adjacent to said edgeterminating short of said edge, and said lip being adapted to be engagedinto a pre-selected groove to lock said guide unit to said edge inpre-selected position within the range of the series of grooves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS442,255 Jones Dec. 9, 1890

